The Hawthorn Ridge mine was the northern-most of the ten mines
detonated on 1 July and one of the three large mines, the other two
being the Lochnagar mine and the Y Sap mine at La
Boisselle. The mine contained about 40,000 lb (18 long
tons) of explosives. The plan was to detonate all other mines
at 7:28 am, two minutes before Zero hour when the infantry advance
would begin, but Lieutenant-GeneralAylmer
Hunter-Weston, whose VIII Corps was holding the
Hawthorn Ridge sector, favoured blowing the mine hours before the
main attack, believing this would give his 29th Division time to
capture and consolidate the crater. However, the Fourth Army commander,
Lieutenant-General Henry Rawlinson
rejected this proposal on the grounds that the Germans would
probably take possession of the crater. In this stance he was
supported by General Sir Douglas Haig, commander
of the British
Expeditionary Force. As a compromise, Hunter-Weston was allowed
to blow the mine ten minutes before Zero, rather than two
minutes.

One witness to the detonation of the Hawthorn Ridge mine was
British cinematographer Geoffrey Malins who was
filming the 29th Division's attack. He had his camera set up about
half a mile away, trained on the ridge and waiting for the
explosion.

“

The ground where I stood
gave a mighty convulsion. It rocked and swayed. I gripped hold of
my tripod to steady myself. Then for all the world like a gigantic
sponge, the earth rose high in the air to the height of hundreds of
feet. Higher and higher it rose, and with a horrible grinding roar
the earth settles back upon itself, leaving in its place a mountain
of smoke.

”

The earth settles after the explosion.

Once the debris subsided, two platoons of the 2nd Battalion, Royal Fusiliers
(86th Brigade, 29th Division) were sent forward to occupy the
crater. However, the German defenders succeeded in holding the
eastern lip of the crater. The early detonation alerted all Germans
in the vicinity that the long-expected attack was now imminent. By
the time the infantry went over at 7:30 am, the German machine guns were
sweeping no man's land and artillery fire was falling on the British
trenches. The attack on Hawthorn Ridge redoubt, and on the entire
VIII Corps front, ended in failure. By 8:30 am, the only "gain" by
the 29th Division was one company clinging
to the western lip of the crater but by the end of the day this too
was lost.

After the disaster of the first day on the Somme, British
efforts were concentrated south of the Albert-Bapaume road and the Hawthorn
Ridge sector was not subjected to further major attacks until the
final push of the battle on 13 November with the opening of the Battle of
the Ancre. For this attack another mine was laid beneath
Hawthorn Ridge, this time containing 30,000 lb (13 tons) of
explosives. On this occasion, superior British planning resulted in
a successful assault and Hawthorn Ridge as well as Beaumont Hamel
were finally captured.